Sleeping Beauty

Moscow Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty is a stunning, colorful and charming re-telling of the classic fairy tale and love story. Choreographed specifically for the Moscow Ballet production, this performance showcases the Russian dancers’ strength in leaps, beauty of the classic lines and charm in their telling of the story. The ballet features acclaimed and award-winning dancers in many of the parts; Princess Aurora, Prince Desire, the Blue Bird pas de deux, Little Red Riding Hood, the evil fairy Carabosse, and more. The dancing combined with the lavish costumes, sets made in the grand Russian theatrical style and Tchaikovsky’s beloved score offer a performance experience to be remembered and cherished.

The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, and was first performed in 1890. Pyotr Tchaikovsky completed the score in 1889 (Opus 66), and is the second of his three ballets. The choreographer of the original production was Marius Petipa and the premiere performance took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890. The work is widely regarded as Tchaikovsky's finest ballet score, and has become one of the classical repertoire's most famous ballets.

French author Charles Perrault wrote the original fairy tale at the close of the 17th century. He is credited with creating many of the most traditional fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and Cinderella and selections from these famous Perrault tales are referenced in the last act of the ballet. Moscow Ballet continues his tradition by including some of these whimsically charming characters in its production.